The US Republican senators have proposed that Ukraine stop striking Russian energy facilities for 100 days. In exchange, the US would extend Starlink coverage for the Ukrainian military about 300 kilometers deep into Russia.
This is reported by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing sources.
This proposal was made to President Volodymyr Zelensky by the Senators Roger Wicker and Kevin Cramer, who visited Kyiv last week along with two members of the House of Representatives.
According to the plan of American lawmakers, expanding “Starlink” would allow Ukraine to more effectively strike Russian missile launchers and drones, from which the Russian Federation regularly attacks Ukrainian cities.
The WSJ sources say that Zelensky agreed to such an offer and was ready to stop strikes on Russian energy facilities for 100 days.
What happened next?
On October 11, the US President Donald Trump reported an energy ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia. The same day, FT reported that the US was threatening to block arms sales to Ukraine and intelligence sharing over its strikes on Russian refineries.
Ukraine agreed and did not strike at Russian oil refining until October 15. Instead, on October 12, the Russian Federation attacked six Ukrainian energy facilities in one day, and on the night of October 14, the Russians struck all three thermal power plants in Kyiv.
In both cases, Ukraine did not receive any warning from its partners about the planned ballistic missile strikes. Donald Trump denied that the US had stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine.
In addition, on the night of October 14, “SpaceX” without warning restricted the operation of “Starshield” terminals, the military version of “Starlink” satellite communications. The “SpaceX” founder Elon Musk said that the “Starshield” systems are controlled by the US government, so their use is determined by the US military, and the final decision is made by the president.
Reuters wrote that the order to restrict “Starshield” work for Ukraine came from the White House. But they called the incident a "technical malfunction".
On October 15, Babelʼs sources in the Ministry of Defense reported that the “Starshield” work in Russia has already resumed and is ongoing. On the same day, Volodymyr Zelensky reported that Ukraine would resume strikes on Russian refineries.
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